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Dr. Montorsi and colleagues express concerns over the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-15 data presented in our study (1). We inadvertently stated that the data presented were the erectile dysfunction (ED) domain of the IIEF-15, but in fact the data cited in our report were an average of each individual domain of the IIEF-15. In response to their letter to the editor we went back to the raw data and calculated both the ED domain of the IIEF-15 and the IIEF-5 (an abbreviated version of the IIEF-15). These results are presented below.

The IIEF-15 domain consists of six questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 15) with a maximum score of 30 and a cut-off of <25 for ED (2). The ED group in our study had an IIEF-15 ED domain score of 16.1 versus 26.8 for the normal group (p = 0.000001).

The IIEF-5 is a validated brief version of the longer questionnaire (questions 2, 4, 5, 7, and 15 of the IIEF-15) (3,4). These five questions have been found to discriminate most highly between men with and without ED. The maximum score for the IIEF-5 is 25, with a cut-off of <21 for ED. The ED group in our study had an IIEF-5 of 12.9 versus 22.3 for the normal group (p = 0.000001).

We appreciate the opportunity to clarify this issue. Based on the results listed above for the ED domain of the IIEF-15 and the IIEF-5, our patients had significant symptoms of ED and our control subjects did not have ED. Therefore, the significance of our original observations is valid, and no further reassessments of the data are warranted.

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